Arguments over the value of nationalism seem to have been raging for centuries, even though the nation state as we know it has only become widespread in the last two hundred years.

In this programme, David Edmonds tracks the emergence of the nation state and the debate surrounding it. From post-colonial Ghana to contemporary Britain, we hear what nationalism has meant to different people in different contexts, as well as the social and philosophical principles that underlie it.

Contributors:

Professor Michael Billig, Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough University,

Professor Richard Bourke, professor of the history of political thought, University of Cambridge.

Elizabeth Ohene, former Minister of State in Ghana.

Dr Sandra Obradovic, Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University.

Professor Tariq Modood, director of the Bristol University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship.

Dr Sarah Fine, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Producer: Nathan Gower